10 May 2022, Online Meeting Hosted by ROCB A/P

The 1st Meeting of Heads of WCO Asia/Pacific Regional Customs Laboratory was organized and hosted online by ROCB A/P on 10 May 2022. About 30 participants and observers from RCLs, WCO Secretariat, Vice Chair Secretariat, and RILO A/P attended the meeting. From ROCB A/P, Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Head and Ms. Sherman Yu, Program Manager, and Ms. Vareemon CHAIRUNGSRILERT, Program Coordinator were attended.

The meeting was kicked off with delivered an opening speech by Mr. Takashi Sato, WCO Regional Development Manager (RDM) for the A/P region followed by Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Head of ROCB A/P to make a welcoming remark.

At the information sharing session, updates of WCO policy, Asia Pacific region’s activity, and RILO A/P work were shared and presented to participants by RDM WCO, Vice Chair Secretariat, and RILO A/P respectively. Since HS had a latest version which was in place in 2022, a presentation about the highlights of HS 2022 by Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate of WCO was included in the meeting. In addition, RILO A/P shared the recent trend of illicit drug trafficking especially at Asia Pacific region. WCO and RILO A/P provided reference information for the two major objectives of Customs analysis: chemical analysis and illicit drug analysis. During the meeting, each RLC was invited to give a presentation to introduce their facilities & set up as well as latest development. Participants shared their views on the challenges and experience in operating the RCLs. This meeting provided a good platform for members to share their best practices and foster a closer cooperation in future.

For concluding the meeting, Mr. Kuramoto summarized the meeting content and its framework in the wrap-up and way forward session. Regarding the next RCL heads meeting, RCL Japan has offered to host the meeting hopefully in 2023, which was confirmed by the participants. Closing remarks was delivered by Mr. Takashi Sato, RDM of WCO Capacity Building Directorate. Mr. Kuramoto also took the opportunity to thank all the participants for their participation and discussion in the 1st RCL Heads meeting.

For more information, please contact us at rocb@rocbap.org